The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer

I have been busy this month with the Jewish holidays and with teaching three writing courses this term. So needless to say, I haven’t had much time for pleasure reading. It took me a month of bus time reading to finish The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer. I caught a few of the Decoded shows on the History Channel, and I enjoyed watching Brad Meltzer and his assistants investigate various historical claims. Shows looked at DB Cooper, John Wilkes Booth, UFOs, the Alaska Triangle, the Culper Ring, and similar stuff. It’s all interesting, and it got me to check out Meltzer as an author. I noticed that The Fifth Assassin was on sale for Kindle when the paperback version came out, so I got it.

Beecher White is the hero of the book, and he works as an archivist and for the modern day Culper Ring. Someone is killing pastors in the DC area, mimicking the assassins of the Presidents. The weird thing is that the assassin in wearing a plaster cast of Abraham Lincoln’s face, which were made in Lincoln’s lifetime. An acquaintance from Beecher’s childhood, Marshall, may be involved, and Beecher also thinks that Beecher’s former girlfriend, Clementine might be involved. The characters were a bit confusing for me because it seems that the story started with The Inner Circle. So we have Clementine’s father, Nico, who tried to kill the current president, President Wallace. Wallace also has a back story with Beecher, who knows that Wallace killed someone in the past. Can Beecher figure out who is killing the pastors before that someone kills Wallace? And does Beecher want to prevent Wallace’s assassination?

Even with all the confusion of jumping into what appeared to be the middle of the story, I really enjoyed The Fifth Assassin. I could hear Meltzer narrating Beecher’s internal dialog, and I found myself racing through the pages whenever I did have a chance to read. I was sitting on the edge of my seat, when the end of the book came too soon. The book ends in a cliff hanger that really did leave me yearning for a quick release of the next book in the series. Meltzer has an informal, quick-paced writing style, and it added to the book’s action scenes. I have The Inner Circle on hold at the library, and I hope to catch up on Beecher’s backstory. I plan on reading a lot more Meltzer in the future.

Inferno by Dan Brown

Dan Brown: the mere mention of his name can turn some people into raving lunatics. Brown can't write. His stories are contrived. His plots are thin and poorly imagined. His grammar and language suck. His research is superficial. I could go on and on with the rantings of these folks. What I don't understand is why these folks feel compelled to read Brown's books? If the books irk you so much, save your money and your time. Walk by the book display. I think that some folks just love to complain, and I think that others like to believe that they are part of the intelligentsia that only reads literature. Others may be suffering from petty jealousy because they would love to be a best selling author. Let me just say that i am not part of the attacking hoards. I like Dan Brown's books. Heck, I even loved some of the them.

Inferno came out in May, but I didn't get a chance to read it until my vacation last week. I wasn't a huge fan of Lost Symbol, but the concept of Inferno seemed to return to Brown's earlier themes of symbology in classical works. In this case, the classical work is Dante's Divine Comedy. Robert Langdon awakens in a hospital in Florence, realizing that he lost two days. He can't remember how he got from his class at Harvard to a hospital in Florence. As he tries to figure out what happened, with the help of young, super-intelligent, Sienna Brooks, Langdon realizes that he needs to look at Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory, and Heaven to find a biological threat to civilization. As Langdon races through Florence to recover his lost 48 hours and to discover the secret of Inferno, he is hunted by mysterious police officials dressed in black. Langdon races through Florence and Venice trying to escape deadly assassins. That's enough to be said about the plot.

Inferno is full of the fast-paced thrills and puzzles that Brown gave us in The DaVinci Code. I thought it was a much more entertaining read than Lost Symbol, which I guess is a recommendation. The ending was a bit of a disappointment, and it just seemed to be more like the balloon deflating from a slow leak than the heart stopping pop that I was hoping for. I like the earlier Brown books much better. I think that the more time he puts into the books, the more confusion he adds to the mix. That said, I'm still looking forward to the next Dan Brown book. The only problem is that it will probably be years from now before it will be published.

N or M? by Agatha Christie

Although Agatha Christie is mostly known for her murder mysteries, mostly starring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, she was also a very good espionage writer. Those books are few in number, but one of my favorites is N or M?, which features Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. Tommy and Tuppence were only in a handful of Christie books: The Secret Adversary, Partners in Crime, N or M?, By the Pricking of My Thumbs, and Postern of Fate, which was the last book that Christie wrote. Tommy and Tuppence start out as young people fresh from World War I with no prospects. They get involved in a spy case, looking for the mysterious Jane Finn. They open a detective agency in Partners in Crime, which is a collection of short stories with an overall unifying theme of working for Mr. Carter and looking for a man known as No. 16. For each case in the book, Tommy and Tuppence took on the personality of a well-known (in 1929) fictional detectives. With N or M?, Tommy and Tuppence are now middle aged. World War II is in full force, and the Berefords want to get in on the act of helping their country, but they are dismissed as being "past it." War is for the young, like Tommy and Tuppence's twins, Derek and Deborah.

N or M? starts with both Tommy and Tuppence down in the dumps because they don't have a role in the war. When someone comes knocking at their door, we all know that it is adventure. This time, it's in the shape of Mr. Grant, who has been sent to solicit the services of Tommy for a boring desk job in Scotland. When Tuppence gets called away to tend to a sick friend, Mr. Grant lets Tommy know that Scotland is a rouse. He's really going to a boarding house in Leahampton called Sans Souci to look for a Nazi spy. The spy can be one of two main people known as N and M. N is a male, while M is a female. Tommy is not to tell Tuppence a thing, and a few days later, he goes off to "Scotland." Imagine Tommy's surprise when he arrives at Sans Souci, as Mr. Meadowes, to find Tuppence already in residence as Mrs. Blenkensop, Tommy is elated. Tuppence figured out that Mr. Grant didn't want to talk in front of her, so she plotted the phone call with a next door neighbor. As Tommy and Tuppence investigate the inhabitants of Sans Souci, they realize that people are not as they appear. Just as Tommy and Tuppence are playing a role, any of the other house guests could be someone else. The only one who seems above suspicion is Mrs. Sprot with her two-year-old daughter, Betty. Christie cunningly hides the identities of N and M, and I was greatly surprised by both reveals. There are no murders in the book, but there is lots of adventure.

I loved N or M?, and it makes me want to re-read the first two Tommy and Tuppence books. The latter two are not very good, so I'll just avoid them for now. As Christie would say, you are not past it until you are dead, and you should never believe everything people tell you.

Keep your eyes open for the part where Christie has a character talk about amnesia that is brought on by the stress of life. This is obviously an reference to the amnesia adventure that Christie had. She rather famously went missing in 1926 when her husband Archie Christie was divorcing her. The claim was that Christie suffered amnesia from the stress of the divorce. You can read more about that here.

The Dancing Floor by Barbara Michaels

I was randomly reading the books by Barbara Michaels; but there are only a few left on the list that I haven't read, so I put them on the back burner. However, the local library had a copy of The Dancing Floor. The Dancing Floor is one of the last books that Michaels wrote under that pseudonym. The book was published in 1997, and only Other Worlds was published after it. Other Worlds doesn't really count, because it's not Michaels' typical romantic suspense book.

In The Dancing Floor, Heather Tradescant goes to England in memory of her father. He had recently died, and he and Heather had always planned to tour the gardens in England that were designed by a famous British gardener of the name Tradescant. Heather is at a loss, and she really wants to see Troyton House. However, Frank Karim, the rich owner is reclusive, and it doesn't look like Heather will get a chance to see the gardens. However, she finds her way into an old, thorny-hedge covered maze at the back of the house, and in a fright at one of the statues hidden in the maze, barrels out onto the lawns of Troyton. Frank is quite taken with Heather's last name, and thinks it's a sign that she should help him in the restoration of the garden. However, there is a force that seems to be trying to hurt Heather. Could it be because of the Witches of Pendle? Frank's son, Jordan, doesn't seem happy to have Heather around, and the security guard, Sean, also seems suspicious of her, although that doesn't stop his womanizing ways. Then there's the neighbor, Giles, who used to own Troyton, and is having issues with his troublesome wife and his hooligan young son, Bobby. As accidents happen to Heather, she starts to wonder if they are natural or supernatural.

Some of the later Barbara Michaels books were disappointing, but I found enjoyed reading The Dancing Floor. It reminded me more of some of the earlier romantic suspense books that Michaels/Peters wrote, only without a really strong occult feel to it. I'm really glad that I picked up the book at the library because it was a very enjoyable read.

Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan by Todd Gallagher

I like sports, and I also like to theorize how certain things affect sports. For example, what if you could get a really obese guy as a goalie? He would fill the net opening, and make it impossible to get the puck in the net. Well, Todd Gallagher, a Pittsburgher and writer for ESPN, took the questions that fans had and put them to the test. He documented the results in his book Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan. I wasn't interested in every question that Gallagher looked at, but there were a few that really caught my attention.

The first question I caught my eye was the Olympic swimmer doing the doggie paddle and being the average person. Well, whenever Gallagher approached an athlete, I noticed that the athlete would accept the challenge, and then start to practice with the restriction, such as doing the doggie paddle. Josh Davis was the Olympic swimmer, and he was able to easily beat Gallagher with a doggie paddle. In fact, Davis was even turning around to root Gallagher on. After losing that match, Gallagher wasn't done with Olympic athletes. He knew someone who had been discussing for years what it would take for the average person to beat an Olympic sprinter (100 meters). For this bout, Maurice (Mo) Green agreed to race against a person who would complete part of the run on a moving walkway. Gallagher found the moving walkway at LAX, and Mo was not pleased with the average Joe getting a 35 meter head start, but agreed to a 31 meter head start. So that means that the average Joe only had to run 69 meters to Mo's 100. With the first race, Mo almost caught the average Joe, even with the 31 meter head start and 35 meter moving walk way. But Mo asked for a second attempt. He learned from that first try, and Mo won the second match. The thing that was most impressive was the Mo quickly figured out, within minutes, what handicap would allow the average Joe to have a competitive chance.

Gallagher also looked at women competing against men in sports. As an example, the USA women's Olympic soccer team can beat 14-year-old boys. However, when the boys hit 15 or 16, the women have a much harder time being competitive. When it comes to strength and athletic ability, men had the edge. That doesn't mean that a couch potato can beat a woman athletic, but men in the sport dominate women. During Wimbledon, Andy Murray said that he would play Serena Williams. Williams first response was that she wouldn't even win a point. There was a ton of talk about it, but in 1998, Karsten Braasch, a German tennis player ranked around 200, easily beat both Williams sisters. Of course, at 31, even with her recent results, which makes me wonder about performance enhancement, Andy Murray would easily trounce Serena Williams unless we apply some of the handicaps that Gallagher puts on athletes in Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan. Maybe Serene would be able to use the doubles lanes, and Murray would get one serve per game to Williams four. But what would the result of that match mean to me? That Williams had no chance to beat Murray one on one. It is what it is.

To answer the statement in the title, Andy Roddick did play with a frying pan against Todd Gallagher using a regular tennis racket. Gallagher did manage to win the match, but even he wondered if Roddick had had a chance to practice more with the frying pan, if the result would be the same. Roddick did practice a bit before the match, as Gallagher found out, but it wasn't enough to give Roddick the winning edge.

If you love sports, and you love playing the game, "what would it take to beat..", you'll love this book. I could imagine a follow-up book with even more questions and situations where the average person can have a chance at beating a professional/skilled athlete.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

I like to read in general, and I love to read kids books when I need a good spot of relaxation. As I was scanning the shelves of the library, I saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. Of course, everyone has heard of the book, and how insanely popular it it. Well, I had not had a chance to read it, and in fact, never considered reading. However, I picked up the book; and when I saw that the book was all in Comic Sans typeface with drawings galore, I figured I needed to give it a try. I'm glad that I did because the book was very enjoyable.

Kinney started the story as an online daily entry. The book is in the same format. Greg Heffley, the "author" of the diary entries, writes about his entry and first year of middle school. For those who don't know, middle school is the the time between grade school and high school, usually around grades seven and eight. Greg is just trying to fit in. As he says at the start, usually the fastest boy would get the girl in grade school. In middle school, things become more difficult, and it's not easy to be the fastest or smartest. Greg's best friend is Rowley Jefferson, and they have various adventures muddling through the confusing world of average adolescence. Greg has an older brother, Rodrick, who is really into music and picking on Greg. Greg also has a much younger brother, Manny, who is spoiled rotten by the parents, and who embarrasses Greg by calling him Bubby.

I read through the book in an afternoon. Kinney has a great way with telling funny stories and really connecting to the average child who wants to fit in with the others, but doesn't know how he can do it. I laughed out loud throughout the book, and I found myself rooting for Greg, even when he wasn't the nicest, most responsible kid. I know that I, for one, can't wait to read more of Greg's adventures, and I already put a request in for the second book in the series: Rodrick Rules.

I Watch, Therefore I Am by Gregory Bergman and Peter Archer

When I was in college, one of my favorite courses was on the philosophy of ethics. Since then, I have always found the topic of ethics and philosophy interesting. In my writing courses, I devote a class to professional ethics. So when I saw I Watch, Therefore I Am by Gregory Bergman and Peter Archer in the library, I was very excited. Who wouldn't want to see the connection between philosophical principles and television? Whenever I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, I would pay special attention to the ethical issues that would confront the crew of the Enterprise. I thought that's what I Watch, Therefore I Am would do, talk about the philosophical issues presented in series television.

Imagine then, my disappointment when I discovered that the book gave a very quick and superficial overview of different philosophical ideologies while making a rather lame connection to some television show. I think in most cases the connections between the philosophical principle and the show was rather tenuous. For example, the authors made a connection between All in the Family and faith and reason. I was hard pressed to see the connection or to see how the example dialog illustrated anything about faith. The book is extremely quick and easy to read because there isn't much depth, and there are blank pages between most of the chapters. If you are looking for something entertaining or that looks at the philosophical elements in a particular show, you will probably be disappointed with I Watch, Therefore I Am. I know that I was.